The Raft of the Medusa
ArtistTheodore Gericault
Year1819
MediumOil on canvas
LocationLouvre, Paris
About The Raft of the Medusa
Based on a real shipwreck where only 15 of 147 survived on a raft. Gericault interviewed survivors and studied corpses in morgues. The painting is enormous at 7.16 x 4.91 meters. One model was Eugene Delacroix, who became a great painter himself. Initially rejected by the government but became a symbol of Romantic art.